14 year old diagnosed

My son is also 14 years old and has had IBS since he was in fourth grade and caught giardia and camphylobacter. He also has GERD. His symptoms are remarkably like your son�s, even the times of day that are the problems (morning and evening) He has a pediatric gastroenterologist who believes in prescribing medication to kids. Some doctors will not, and your son�s may be one of those. The only things that have helped are drugs and dietary changes. Right now, he takes Levsin for painful spasms and Elavil at bedtime for pain. He also takes Culturelle, at his doctor�s suggestion, and stool softeners to counteract any constipation form the Levsin. He cannot eat any dairy products, beef, fatty foods, spicy foods, and we are checking to see if he has a fructose intolerance, as well. My daughter, who is now 18, had IBS from the time she was 8 until she was 13, also brought on by giardia and a Blastocystitis hominis infection. Note: all these wonderful parasitic infections were caught from drinking well water at my in-laws farm. NEVER drink well water!! I don�t know if she is �cured�, but she rarely has any problems now. What was the miracle for her was, again, Elavil. She took it for about 6 months, stopped, and has been just about normal since then. She just has to watch greasy food. Because of her miracle �cure�, I hope that my son will see substantial improvement someday.My heart goes out to you. This has truly been the most difficult thing that I have gone through as a parent. Please try to find a doctor who will prescribe appropriate medications for your son. Track everything that he eats and drinks and look for patterns. And be endlessly patient and loving. If this is hell for us as parents, it is a million times worse for our boys, who want nothing more than to be normal kids.Missing school is a problem for us as well, especially as my son just had a bad flare-up. I will not send him to school in pain. We get his homework and I teach him at home if he can�t make it to school. He got straight As last report period, despite missing 15 days of school in that nine week period. He's probably missed 40 days so far this year. I see myself as my son�s advocate with the school. Talk to someone there, preferably the nurse, who understands about IBS and can be a liaison with the school for your son. Good luck. There is hope that things will get better.

Erin that would be good to have another name of a doctor. Ellsworth is only just an hour away. The reason we went to Boston this week is because we saw the only pediatric GI in the entire state of Maine and after what he had tested and given for meds did not work he sent us to Children's Hospital in Boston to see a motility pediatric GI specialist. I am not expecting to have to go to Boston again really soon and he said that we would discuss meds on the phone and with the doctor in Portland. So yeah I would love the name of the doctor up this way even if it is just another reference. Thanks for the info.

Dear Maine Mom:Welcome to the Board. I'm terribly sorry your son has IBS at such a young age. It's so hard to watch them suffer and not know what to do about it. My daughter is 21 but it still kills me when she gets sickYou've already gotten lots of good advice from the people here, and I'm sure you'll find ways to help your son. Hang in there, and post as much as you want to. JeanG

Dear MaineMom,I fully empathize with you and your son. Here is how we handle absences from chronic illness at our school. ( I am a middle and high school nurse).We have the student's doctor write a "cover letter" explaining that there may be some days that the student misses due to a chronic health problem,e.g. migraines, asthma, dysmenorrhea. That student's absence is then excused so it doesn't add to the number of unexcused days, thus preventing moving to the next grade. Our district allows only 12 unexcused days. Only religious holidays, bereavements and doctors notes are excused. We try to halp the parent and student when there is a chronic pain problem. Sometimes a student may need to come in late and that can be covered in the letter. It sounds as though your son's doctor is trying to prevent your son from developing a chronic fear of attending school in pain. There must be a better way. Maybe he would write a prescription so that your son can have some medicine available in the nurse's office. That way he would feel that all is not lost if he is in pain. It is our goal as school nurses to help a child be healthy and fit to learn. No one can learn while in pain. Please do as was suggested and call your school nurse. She can be someone your son could go to in need ( for pain meds, a short rest, or even private bathroom time).Best wishes to you both. If all else fails, there are many good pediatric GIs who realize that there is a psychological aspect to this disease. How can you not be fearful when you know pain is coming? Home becomes the "safe place" for all of us with IBS.wpmom

thanks for the info. His sympotms are that his lower right side of his stomach is tender to the touch. so much so that in the beginning everyone was thinking an appendixcitis(spelling wrong) is what he had. He does have gas but not too bad. He has always "tooted" some but that was no big deal. When he flares up (every monrning, evening and late in the night) his stomach cramps up sometimes to the doubling over point We have found nothing that works for those pains. by the afternoon he is feeling better and more normal( whatever that is now) and then it starts again around 8 to 10 pm. If he gets to sleep sometimes he can sleep through the night(not oftern though). Other times it has woken him up the pain.He has the loose stools or normal stools never the same scenario. His main problem seems to be the very real pain. Now you know all. Thanks for th websites everyone and the encouragement. I really do feel as if I am not alone now.